Dubai: The bling and flash that characterises Dubai high life have made their way into and onto the emirate's cars. Aided by popular television shows, like Pimp My Ride and Overhaulin, the car customising industry continues to grow, despite a drop in spending following the economic downturn.
"We've been very busy lately and haven't really seen a decrease in customer numbers. We've seen steady growth through word of mouth customers, so much so that we've stopped our advertising," Dave Dresen, general manager of West Coast Customs, told Gulf News.
While it has become a prominent industry in only the past few years, Ali Thani, president of Chrome and Carbon, says the desire to customise cars has been around in Dubai for years.
"People have been doing it for a long time, but haven't had the right place to build cars. The cars previously were not made professionally," he said.
The growing car customising industry has attracted world renowned specialists such as West Coast Customs, the custom car house that made its name in the TV show Pimp My Ride.
Market
While both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait boast burgeoning car customising industries, Dubai takes pole position in the region.
"Dubai has always been the trendsetter for the Middle East," says Dresen. "Globally, the US is the biggest car modification market. Tokyo, Moscow, Sydney are also huge. Basically any place that has a major motor show has a decent car customisation industry."
While anything usually goes with car customising, specialist shops report a high number of luxury, high-end cars such as Porsches, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Rolls Royces.
"We also do a lot of classic stuff and we have some early American muscle cars. We've also done some Nissan Patrols and Toyota Corollas; however our wheels and tyres start out in the mid-Dh30,000 range so it doesn't make much sense to customise [a vehicle] of lower value," says Dresen.
Types
According to Dresen, West Coast clients come in wanting to customise anything from cars to bike helmets, boats to helicopters. Thani said he has also had requests to carry the customising work into the house.
"Last year we customised just over 300 cars, five bikes, a lot of helmets, five boats and one helicopter," said Dresen. His business has been steadily increasing each year since the shop's launch.
"Our first year we did around 70 cars, in the second we customised 300 and so far this year we're at 35 and we still have nine months to go," says Dresen.
Dresen estimates their clientele is about 60 per cent local and 40 per cent expatriate.
Alexander Renner, managing director of Alex Renner Motors, says the average age is from 30 onwards, "a time when you have the disposable cash and can afford those luxuries".
According to Thani, customising work is seasonal. "Winter is our busiest time. In the summer everyone takes their holiday, but during the winter, more people are in the country and looking to show off their cars. During the summer we get a lot more people wanting to customise their jet skis and desert bikes," says Thani.
Trends
Favourites include exterior styling, interior styling, specialised paint jobs in colours such as candy and chameleon paint, LED lights and made-to-order bumpers. However, the main driving factor is uniqueness, as people seek to set themselves apart on the highway.
Trends tend to follow the US and movies such as Fast and Furious. "Everything here is about 12 months behind the trends you see in the US," says Dresen.
According to Thani, chrome paint and matt were in fashion about 12 months ago, but now chameleon paint is popular.
"We have one paint product called holospects that uses light changing crystals, meaning the colour changes depending on which angle you look at it. It's quite expensive, the product alone costs about $5,500 (Dh20,198) per gallon," says Dresen.
A popular choice is also the two-tone paint job which features a dividing stripe with graphics. For interior work, orange is the new black, according to Dresen. "Around 30 per cent of people want something other than just a mono-colour. We've done a couple of cars for a couple of members of the Ruling Family members which have been painted with candy paint and had their nicknames ghosted in Arabic into it."
For those looking for a more temporary option, Foil-a-car offers a selection of coloured foils with more than 150 colours to choose from with finishes including glossy, matte, carbon fibre, aluminium brushed, glitter, transparent, chrome and metallic.
According to Foil-a-Car this service, which has starting prices of Dh12,500 to Dh15,000 for a basic colour and car, amounts to about 40 per cent of customer base.
"The biggest advantage is that foil can be very easily removed. As most clients change their colour as a fashion statement, this is a good option. With a paint job you will lose on the resale value and to repaint will cost you twice as much. With high-end supercars, the second you start playing with original paint finishing you lose about 20-35 per cent of the car," said Swen Roters, founder and owner of the Foil-a-car concept in the Middle East and Europe.
According to Roters, the most popular colours are matt gold, copper and red.
Another popular choice is window tinting which can range from zero to 100 per cent. "Most clients get it because of the heat and to protect the interior. There is also a privacy factor, especially for females who can use darker tints than males. Women can block out the windows completely while male clients are only allowed a maximum tint of 30 per cent," says Roters.
With motorcar racing gaining popularity with the completion of Yas Island, the sportier look is also in high demand.
"With this event there's been a lot more interest in motor sports. Clients are becoming more specific in their inquiries. People used to come and ask what I recommended. Now I'm seeing more customers knowing exactly what they want and what they're looking for. Engine modification is the most popular," says Renner
Souping up car value
According to Renner, customising a car can be a nice option for when you sell your car, but it doesn't always increase the value. This is especially the case with classic cars.
"I always tell my clients that whatever you spend on your cars is for your pleasure, it's not a market you can make money from."
While auto-styling can add value to a car, it more often than not it comes down to a matter of taste. "If you do something that's pretty far out, at that point it's a matter of taste and is worth whatever someone will pay for. But if you do something that's quite tasteful it can increase the resale value. So far we've seen about 75 per cent tasteful and 25 per cent pretty awful," says Dresen.
One way of adding value through customising, Thani says, is by putting it in a show that wins it prizes.
While it may be cheaper than buying a new car, the price tag still remains hefty.
Dresen says candying a car starts at about Dh50,000 and an ASI body kit can cost about Dh175,000.
According to Renner, engine modifications start at Dh4,000 and can go up to Dh150,000 depending on the kind of service chosen.
Permission
Any custom work has to be approved by the RTA and police. Many companies will clear designs with the appropriate authorities before they start work.
According to Dresen, it's not a difficult process, but can be time-consuming. If the owner has financing on the car, then it can also get quite complicated.
"The laws here on customising have a big grey area. We can send two cars that are virtually identical. One car will get rejected, one will get passed. A lot of it just depends on the person inspecting the car. Hydraulic suspensions, for example, are accepted in the rest of the world.
"Here, any vehicle that has chassis modifications are rejected immediately even if you weld a bracket on to it."
According to Dresen there is a distinct lack of quality control with the new garages in Sharjah and Dubai.
"What is needed is a set of rules and regulations, not just for car modifications but for the garages as well. Some of the accident repairs I've seen here from the garages are far more dangerous."
